Batignolles

Happy to help! Aside from finding out if your file is complete, though, I am not a fan of these status websites. Who wants to log in and check their status all the time? AdComs should just always use email, it would be way more convenient. Although, given my compulsive use of my blackberry, I guess it's true that an email update might suddenly hit me in the wrong meeting at the wrong time...!

Tufts' Facebook page says that they know the blog is down. Yesterday afternoon they noted that their IT department is working on fixing it: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Medford-MA/The-Fletcher-School-Admissions/149157541390?ref=ts

I think most schools actually require you to fill out the FAFSA in advance of your decisions - most of my programs required it to be completed by the end of January. That said, to be honest a FAFSA is really pretty easy to fill out. It's basically a statement of your income and tax payments from the previous year. You can use a pay slip to do an initial draft, and update your FAFSA later in the year when you get W2s and the like. I completed my FAFSA in under an hour - and I have a foreign tax return and had to convert the currency! Take a look at it online before you worry - it could be much simpler than you think.

I applied to three, but between that and holding down a 70-hour-a-week job I felt like I did more than enough. Plus there's all the work for applying for in-school scholarships, which often require separate essays or full applications... I'm sincerely exhausted at the mere idea of admissions at this point. Then again, maybe I just work too much... nah, that can't be it I have nothing but respect for those of you who are so dedicated you can face this for more than just a few schools!

I just got a confirmation email from the HKS saying that "the decisions will be sent out around the end of March". Given that it's the end of February right now, I assume this means they reasonably expect to be ready for then. So perhaps we will not have to wait as long as we thought!!

I definitely agree that the stats, while interesting, don't tell the whole story. After all, when you're talking about MC people, the pool as a whole probably has pretty impressive resumes. A number of them also seem to be sponsored by foreign governments and militaries, so they go through a rigorous selection with their home institution before being put forward. So although they're almost auto-admits, they've been pre-screened. So their GRE scores might be really low, and the acceptance rates for this bunch a bit misleading...

I know that logically looking at the applicant pool doesn't really help you estimate your chances any better, but I still find it comforting. I thought I'd start a thread where we can post an info we find on how many people have applied to government affairs programs. My start: Fletcher admissions blogs says 2010 applicant numbers are about the same as 2009: http://news.fletcher...issions/?p=1487 Which is still about 10% bigger than the usual applicant pool: http://news.fletcher.tufts.edu/admissions/?p=507

I've been doing some research on the KSG in preparation for submitting a few fellowship applications, and I stumbled upon a few resources that I thought would be pretty helpful to those of you out there who want more information on the KSG. It's amazing what's put out there on the internet today... Admission Data In addition to all kinds of information about nationality, race, and gender of applicants as well as faculty and lecturers, the Diversity Committee Briefing Book for 2008 includes average GRE scores and exact feeder schools for all mid-career applicants up to the class of 2007 (GRE scores are for the old GRE: V588 / Q604 / A623, AW4.8 average, 234 of 419 applicants accepted for AY2007). There's some data, a bit more recent but less detailed, for the MPP and MPA2 programs. Source: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic210038.files/DiversityCommitteeBriefingBook.pdf Student Satisfaction With the KSG This first one is a link to a satisfaction survey of existing KSG students, including where students come from, the reason they chose the KSG, aspects of the school that most need improvement, etc. There's a summary version of the study, but also a detailed view of the raw data, which helps you to see exactly what each respondent said for each question. Very interesting for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the program! The responses to the bidding system, as well as review of the core courses, was pretty eye-opening to me... Summary: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/kssg/documents/2009_HKS_survey_report.pdf Detailed Data: www.hks.harvard.edu/kssg/documents/2009_HKS_survey_aggregate.xlsx

It's not exactly the same, but I've got to give at least three months notice so I can be replaced - and I live overseas so packing up, selling random things I've accumulated over time, and getting back to the U.S. will take some time as well. The biggest problem is that I need to wait to hear about financial aid as well, which I hear often comes a few weeks later than the admittance package. So if I only hear about acceptance and aid by late April, it will be cutting it tight to get to a program that starts at the end of August... and so much for a small vacation from work before school!!

In my not (yet) admitted opinion, I think if you're writing a foreign policy piece for a MPP or MPA program, you can consider two pretty broad choices: (1) Write about a very specific aspect of foreign policy between any two countries (or equally involve non-state actors, like the EU). You can address a particular recent issue / point of contention / concern in depth. This shows your ability to productively contribute to a specific ongoing debate, considering different points of view and evaluating different proposed solutions in depth. (2) Write about foreign policy more broadly, but one of the pair should be a smaller or less addressed country. So here you can show how (for example) the U.S. can integrate its conflicting goals and interests into a comprehensive approach to Mozambique. But here you could also choose, say, Guinea-Bissau's approach to Russia (a very interesting topic!). I think this one shows an ability to address contradictions or conflicting interests (which might not be apparent if, say, you restricted yourself only to a smaller topic like energy or immigration policy between the two nations). I think each approach has its merits, but carefully choosing the right focus and depth will be essential to success in either case... any other thoughts out there in the Grad Cafe community?

I definitely had the same goal, and am facing the same slide. I feel fortunate that the WWS deadline was early enough that I've got a pretty solid policy paper and a personal statement I'm really happy with... but I haven't really put that much time into customizing them for my other two schools (which also require substantial cuts, with word limits for both well below Princeton's). Let's not even mention the two different supplemental essays that those schools require that I have yet to even outline... It's hard to be motivated with the holidays around the corner, especially with one app in to give me a comfortable feeling of early satisfaction. But I'm sure those January deadlines are really going to feel like they're just around the corner when I regain my focus in the new year!

A great additional source of funding across all programs is the American Association of University Women (AAUW). They offer scholarships for both U.S. and international women (sorry, guys). They offer five different grants: American Fellowships Support women doctoral candidates completing dissertations and scholars seeking funds for postdoctoral research leave or for preparing completed research for publication. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. One-year postdoctoral research leave fellowships, dissertation fellowships, and summer/short-term research publication grants are offered. $30,000 for postdoc fellowships $20,000 for doctoral fellowships $6,000 for summer fellowships Due: Nov 15 (passed for 2009) Career Development Grants Support women who hold a bachelor's degree and who are preparing to advance their careers, change careers, or re-enter the work force. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. $2,000 to $12,000 Due: Dec 15 (passed for 2009) International Fellowships Awarded for full-time graduate or postgraduate study or research to women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents.$2,000 to $12,000 $2,000 to $12,000 master's / professional fellowship $20,000 doctoral fellowship $30,000 postdoctoral fellowship Due: Dec 1 (passed for 2009) Selected Professions Fellowships Awarded to women who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who intend to pursue a full-time course of study (during the fellowship year) in designated degree programs where women's participation traditionally has been low. Restricted to architecture (M.Arch, M.S.Arch), Computer/Information Sciences (M.S.), Engineering (M.E., M.S.), Mathematics/Statistics (M.S.). For women of color also includes Business Administration (M.B.A.), Law (J.D.), Medicine (M.D., D.O.). $5,000 to $18,000 master's and first professional awards Due: January 1, 2010 All available at: http://www.aauw.org/education/fga/fellows_directory/index.cfm

I definitely agree with riz1 - a few extra words here and there shouldn't make a difference. I definitely wouldn't sweat it over a sentence over the word limit. And if you're a bit over, as I definitely was, you can always do what I did: submit your essays as pdfs, so they can't easily scan the word count!

As someone who works in consulting for a top private sector firm (and plays a major role in recruiting), I can't say that a pure IR master's degree really sets you up for consulting any better than your background in law. In other words, if what you're looking for is to make a career transition from law into consulting, the IR program is not really a great investment of your $120,000+. I guess that you posted really elicited two big questions for me: 1. You mention that pure business school is not thrilling or intellectually demanding. Have you stopped to consider that if you don't think business school programs are engaging (and there are a very wide variety of them out there), then you might also run up against the same limitations in the business world itself? 2. On a related note, if what you always wanted to study was IR, don't you also want to consider jobs in that realm? There are a huge number of private sector consulting companies that work for all branches of the government, a number of them touching the foreign policy space. A lot of the best ones aren't broadly considered "top" companies (they're more like specialized "boutique" firms) but are awesome at what they do. But if you're really dead-set on consulting or banking (which are really two very, very different pursuits...), combined with academic study of IR, I would stop and consider what those companies want from you once you're done: rock-hard quantitative skills, business acumen, and problem solving abilities. Any quant-oriented program where you could take business policy / international financial system courses would probably do for building that skill set. That encompasses most of the more quant-focused programs out there, so you've got a broad choice of schools but will have to be quite careful and focused in your course selection. A good alternative in that case might be Fletcher's Master of International Business, which combines MBA and IR studies into one two-year degree useful for both fields. But to be perfectly honest, beyond testing your ability to do the work, consulting and banking companies that are interviewing non-MBA master's degree students are really going to care a huge amount about the big name at the top of your diploma (yes, we are shallow like that). You'd really be better off going to Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley or the like in that case, since big names like that are the main places where consulting companies have a substantial recruiting presence. Hope that helps!

With our small pool of applications and lack of safety schools between us, we will probably be the ones starting all the "When are we going to hear from them??" postings waaay too early in the spring next year

I agree - I think using Marx outside of the usual context shows depth and will add some excitement to the essay. With the usage you're planning, I really can't see the adcoms having any kind of problem with it.

I'm definitely with you on this, thrombo. I think that going to professional schools to get degrees like an MPP or MPA is really voluntary. I just look at the opportunity cost of going to school: I have a good job, and good opportunities on the horizon (though not directly in my chosen field) if I don't go to school. So I think about public policy school as costing me 2 years' salary + tuition + cost of living. So I'm not applying anywhere lightly! I have three schools on my list (none of which is close to a safety!), and if I don't get in to any of them, my plan is to wait another year and try again. Without school, it would be a lot harder to make my planned career transition, but I would rather work for a year closer to my planned field to enhance my application to the top programs than settle for some place that's not right for me. So I'll have my fingers crossed very tightly in March-April when the adcoms start getting back to us!

If the tutors you're speaking about are graduate students, then it's probably ok to get your reference from them. While it's probably ideal to get them from tenured faculty, in my opinion it's better to get a really strong letter on your behalf than a weak letter from someone more "important".

Some advice I got from a friend on an adcom: assume that your policy analysis pieces are read by people who are pretty current in the field you're addressing. So if you're writing an obscure piece about a particular land policy on the Rwanda-Burundi border, you might to spend a fair share of your paper on context. But if you're writing about US- EU relations, you can probably assume that the your paper will be read by people have a pretty decent understanding of the current situation. That can really help you to cut a lot of narrative filler from your paper, and focus on the parts where you really differentiate yourself based on the quality of your analysis, insights and solutions. Me, I'm just going to try and cut 25% of the less important stuff from my 1,000 word policy paper from WWS... gulp

gazelle, I'm not really sure that we can add a lot of certainty to your potential application success. As you know, you have pretty good stats - but not the unbelievably-amazing shoo-in stats we sometimes see here. I'd say based on numbers alone you have a decent shot, but a lot will depend on your personal statement and the way you present your experiences in each school's applications. So try your best and hope for a few acceptances!

While I'm not sure that overworked adcoms have the time to google each applicant's admission materials, or that people on this board are malicious enough to plagiarize other people's written material, it might be better to arrange for an exchange of personal statements with someone on the board. That way you can both help each other, and your material isn't out there for any possible abuse!

Fizzydrink, moral support is here! I also just finished the WWS application and am humbled by the experience. I'm glad there's over a month before the KSG applications are due... I can use all that extra time to revise (and cut) from my original materials!

kaixinwawa, it probably really depends on which programs you're thinking of applying to, and how you bring it all together in your application. I would focus on making your SOP really strong, including making the most of your internship experiences.

I chose business, but would like to add a *, since I worked in the private sector FOR the public sector. I've essentially worked on international development and NGO stuff for most my five years' experience, though it doesn't really read that way on my resume. Most of my work has been abroad in various countries in Europe and Africa, which has been fun but a bit disjointed - I'd love to really focus on one region and dig in deeper. I figured it was time to head back to school and made a career change into what really interests me, and to a job where I can live in one place for a long stretch!